


a good man never fails

by onetrueobligation



Series: people living in trousers [1]
Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn, In Trousers - William Finn
Genre: F/M, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-26 21:46:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18186128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onetrueobligation/pseuds/onetrueobligation
Summary: things might have ended differently for marvin if not for miss goldberg.





	a good man never fails

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone! this is definitely more of an in trousers story than a falsettos one. a few warnings: this work surrounds the issues of pedophilia and rape. i don't intend to be very graphic with either of those, as i'm simply expanding on what bill finn wrote, but if mentions of those make you uncomfortable, you absolutely don't have to read this. 
> 
> secondly, i would recommend listening to in trousers if you haven't already before reading this, or else it might not make a lot of sense. once again, be warned that in trousers carries the themes of pedophilia and rape (in a somewhat abstract way).
> 
> however, if you have listened to in trousers and are very confused about it, hopefully this work at least clears up some aspects of it for you! since this work is also kind of abstract, i'd be happy to answer any questions in the comments, and i'll most likely add an explanation of the story at the end, too.
> 
> enjoy!

_Poor Miss Goldberg._

It all began with her. Marvin wonders if his life could have been so much different, had he not ever known Miss Goldberg. If he hadn’t tried so very hard to be a good man.

He loved Miss Goldberg. That was all he knew. She made him what he is today.

 

‘Relax, Marvin.’

He was thirteen years old. And Miss Goldberg cast him as the lead in her play. How America Got Its Name – the story of Columbus. Miss Goldberg told him he was the perfect Columbus, and Marvin glowed. Of course he wanted to be the handsome, daring explorer. Especially for Miss Goldberg.

He knew he was her favourite. He saw the way she watched him during class, always called on him first, always pretended not to notice when he passed notes in class or ran down the halls. But he was still pleased when she chose him for Columbus.

Then she began calling him to her office after school to rehearse. It never bothered him that they were always alone. Why should it? He liked Miss Goldberg. He liked being her favourite.

‘I love the way you act, Marvin,’ she murmured. ‘I do.’

 

When Marvin’s teacher told him she loved him, he didn’t know what to think.

He was fourteen, now, and the usual thoughts of a teenage boy hadn’t escaped him. Miss Goldberg should have been what he wanted. She was beautiful, he thought, rather numbly. He tried to admire those things a boy his age was supposed to admire, but he couldn’t muster up more than a dim appreciation, rather than genuine lust.

Miss Goldberg had been good to him. She’d made him Columbus. Columbus was a good man, she taught him, and good men never failed. Not loving a woman like Miss Goldberg – everything a man should want – was a failure. Wasn’t it?

 

Miss Goldberg encouraged him to write plays. She told him he was clever, and Marvin liked it. She told him he had a way with words, and Marvin believed her. She told him to write about the two of them, and Marvin agreed.

He gave her the play he wrote, a story of a boy in love with a woman. After all, that was what she wanted to read, wasn’t it? That he loved her.

He watched her read through it, lips pressed into a thin line, and then handed it back. ‘I have some suggestions.’

By the time Miss Goldberg was through with the play, it was almost unrecognisable.

 

‘Don’t you ever lose that play,’ she told him sternly one afternoon after school. Marvin, who could sense her steely gaze even behind her dark glasses, swallowed and nodded.


End file.
